Midsomer Murders, Set 25 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

Midsomer Murders, Set 25 Blu-ray Movie Review

The New Sergeant from London

Reviewed by Michael Reuben February 23, 2015

(Warning: Although no murderers are revealed in this review, a few developments in the lives of the show's regular characters are discussed. Anyone who wishes to watch these episodes "cold" should read no further and also skip the extra screenshots.)

Have pity on Detective Chief Inspector John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) of Midsomer County's Causton CID. Everything is changing so fast. He has bid farewell to the Detective Sergeant, Ben Jones, on whom he has relied ever since he first assumed his post as Midsomer's chief criminal investigator, while Jones has now achieved the DCI position to which he has long aspired in Barnaby's old station in Brighton (with Barnaby's recommendation, of course). Barnaby must now break in a new partner, an eager young cop from the big city of London named Charlie Nelson (Gwilym Lee), who is handsome, tall and totally unaccustomed to small-town ways.

Nelson quickly finds a friend in the local coroner, Dr. Kate Wilding (Tamzin Malleson), who needs a lodger, just as Nelson is looking for a room. Their Felix-and-Oscar differences over housekeeping become a constant source of Nelson's daily chatter (he's the neat freak), to which Barnaby's frequent response is a variation on, "You do realize I don't care, don't you?"

With the arrival of Nelson, Midsomer Murders completes the makeover of its regular cast that began with John Barnaby's arrival in Series 14. But there is still more to come—last spoiler warning!—and it involves the Barnaby household. Sarah Barnaby (Fiona Dolman) is expecting the couple's first child. As the five episodes of Series 16 progress, all the usual accoutrements of pregnancy appear: cribs, lamaze mats, endless baby paraphernalia, paint brushes for the nursery and numerous doleful looks exchanged between Barnaby and the household's terrier, Sykes, who knows he'll soon be pushed aside by the new arrival.

Series 16 of Midsomer Murders is the first that Acorn Media has issued complete in a single Blu-ray set (Set 25), which probably has something to do with its being five episodes long, like the show's early seasons. The fifth and final episode marks the show's 100th, which is, fittingly, when Baby Barnaby at last makes his or her appearance (the Barnabys choose to be surprised).

The Christmas Haunting (disc 1) Dec. 24, 2013

Only in England, the land that gave us Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, would they celebrate Christmas Eve with a Very Special Episode of a show that includes the word "murder" in its title. But here is DCI Barnaby making his first acquaintance with his new sergeant over the corpse of Conor Bridgeman (Jonah Russell), whose chest had an unfortunate encounter with a medieval sword during a "ghost hunt" at a supposedly haunted mansion in the town of Morton Shallows. Bridgeman had slipped away from the group to canoodle with a lady friend, Felicity Hearn (Perdita Avery), a habit unfortunately familiar to his long-suffering wife, Mel (Susie Trayling).

Bridgeman didn't lack for enemies. The owner of the haunted house, Simon Fergus-Johnson (Mark Heap), refused to sell it to him, even though the Fergus-Johnsons are broke. A local historian and tea room owner, Brendan Pearce (Les Dennis), dislikes him because of a former relationship with his daughter, who left town broken-hearted. And partway into the episode, a mysterious man from the past named Ollie Tabori (James Murray) appears like a vengeful spirit, bringing back memories that the town would rather forget. The local pub owner, Ross Clymer (Paul Blair), won't even serve him.

Despite legends warning against disturbing the dead, reinforced by an anonymous pamphlet circulated in town, Barnaby and Nelson trace the murder (and a second one that follows) to a very human agency with earthly motives—and still make it home in time for Christmas dinner with Mrs. Barnaby and a grateful Dr. Wilding (who would otherwise be dining alone).


Let Us Prey (disc 1) Jan. 8, 2014

Every so often, Midsomer Murders has an episode where it is impossible for the viewer to solve the crime (except by guesswork), because essential information is withheld until the moment that Barnaby reveals it in identifying the killer. Let Us Prey is such an episode, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. Among other things, it features impressive riverside locations and a memorable foot chase over narrow pedestrian walkways as the eager Sgt. Nelson shows his new boss just how useful he can be in nabbing a suspect.

A medieval fresco has been discovered in the basement of the church in Midsomer St. Claire, and the new pastor, Rev. Martha Hillcott (Rebecca Front), believes that its restoration and preservation are the key to attracting pilgrims and visitors that will revive the fortunes of both the church and the town. An art historian, Professor Philip Hamilton (Vincent Regan), has taken charge of the project, and he has turned the head of a local aspiring artist, Nancy Dewar (Sarah Lochlan), who has left her husband, Michael (William Beck), to move in with Hamilton. Ironically, it was Michael's father, Frank (Paul Copley), a handyman at the church, who helped uncover the fresco.

Not everyone is thrilled with Rev. Hillcott's plans, including her predecessor, the retired Rev. Arthur Gould (Michael Jayston), who is revered by his former flock, and his daughter, Ava (Andrea Lowe), but their opposition may have something do with Rev. Hillcott's plans to sell the church cottage in which the Goulds are living to raise funds for the fresco restoration. A local shopkeeper, Noah Evans (William Postlethwaite), is displeased that his son, Ewan (Gerard Horan), an art student, owns a book illustrating medieval tortures, a subject also depicted in the fresco, and would rather work with Professor Hamilton than take over the family business.

When Nancy Dewar washes up in the nearby river, her head hooded in burlap to resemble a figure in the fresco, it appears that someone is making a point, though it isn't entirely clear just what that point is. As more victims fall, each killed in a manner derived from the fresco, Barnaby and Nelson search for a motive and eventually suspect that church disputes may disguise a history even more buried than the fresco.


Wild Harvest (disc 2) Jan. 29, 2014

Celebrity chefs have become valuable commodities, and Midsomer has its own star in the person of Ruth Cameron (Sharon Small), the tyrant of the kitchen at Wyvern House in Midsomer Wyvern. Her husband, Johnny Linklater (Clive Wood), runs the business and glad-hands the public, while a small army of underlings, including sous-chef Nick Iver (Marc Elliott)—who says his boss is stealing his recipes—and an ambitious commis, or range chef, named Amy Strickland (Lucinda Dryzek), whose father owns Wyvern House, slaves in the kitchen.

Amy's father, Martin Strickland, is an irascible farmer, who seems to have a grudge against the restaurateurs who have leased his ancestral home. He believes they are poaching from his neighboring land; the latest theft was a valuable harvest of truffles. Still, despite Strickland's mean reputation, it is a shock when a local herbalist, Lizzy Thornfield (Hayley Mills), discovers his body in the forest, tied to a tree and mauled to death by wild animals.

As is typical in Midsomer, violent death exposes a thicket of wrongdoing. The dead man was having an affair with a local pub owner, Angela Linklater (Arabella Weir), the former wife of the star chef's current husband, Johnny. Johnny, in turn, has some sort of illicit arrangement with the local suppliers of his wife's kitchen, and the great chef herself has an ancient feud with the elderly lady who found Martin Stickland's body. And then there's Camilla (Lucy Akhurst), Strickland's widow and second wife, who discovers that she's been completely disinherited, with her stepdaughter, Amy, in possession of everything—including Wyvern House.

Sorting through this mixture of motives proves to be more difficult than restoring a bouillabaisse to its original constituents. The whole experience makes one appreciate plain, simple meals where one knows exactly what's in the food. Sometimes even a taste test can prove fatal.




The Flying Club (disc 2) Feb. 5, 2014

Finchmere Airfield is a site of great historical importance in Midsomer, because it served as a key base for the Royal Air Force during World War II. When its current co-owner, Bernard King (Chris Nightingale), is found dead after being dropped from a plane, Barnaby and Nelson are caught in a feud between those concerned with the airfield's history and local inhabitants sick of the noise. But the detail that initially intrigues Barnaby is how quickly his trusty coroner, Dr. Kate, deduces the height from which the victim was dropped, based on his injuries. "Went out with a flyer once", she explains.

The other owner of Finchmere Airfield is the Darnley family, who have tried to keep the place going as a flying school. The matriarch, Molly Darnley (June Whitfield), is a decorated war hero, who flew with the women's corps that delivered planes from the factories to the RAF. Her late husband was a famous aerial commander, and her grandson, Alex (Oliver Rix), has served in Afghanistan. Her son (and Alex's father), Perry Darnley (Robert Bathurst), handles the business, under the watchful eye of his wife, Miranda (Sara Stewart). It is Miranda who approaches, Stephanie (Laila Rouass), the grief-stricken widow of Bernard King, to discover what she intends to do with Bernard's half of the business.

Finchmere is under attack by a local coalition of homeowners who are tired of having their peace disturbed by the "Top Gun" antics of flyboys like Alex and his buddy, Gavin Hopkirk, an instructor at Finchmere. Protests and lawsuits have been organized by an activist named Eddie Rayner (Phil Cornwell), even though his daughter, Jessie (Scarlett Alice Johnson), works as a receptionist at Finchmere, is engaged to Alex Darnley and is devotedly, hopelessly loved by Alex's best friend, Gavin. Then again, employment at Finchmere is a fickle matter. A long-time machinist, Duggie Wingate (Bernard Cribbins), has just been laid off in a "restructuring"; he has a grudge against Molly Darnley that goes all the way back to the war.

Aside from the usual fun of sorting through eccentrics, pretenders and red herrings, The Flying Club offers two special treats. One is a visit from Dr. Kate Wilding's parents, Giles and Mary (Geoffrey Whitehead and Jacqueline King), both of whom are struggling with adjustment to Giles's recent retirement as a top surgeon. The other is a scene borrowed directly from the famous crop-dusting sequence in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, a tip of the hat to the Master of Suspense, Midsomer-style.


The Killings of Copenhagen (disc 3) Feb. 12, 2014

For its 100th episode after seventeen years on the air, Midsomer Murders returned to its roots in the original pilot, The Killings at Badger's Drift, but with an international spin. Once again, a citizen from the town of Badger's Drift meets with foul play, but the murder of Eric Calder (Marcus Hutton) occurs in Denmark, where Calder was on a business trip. As the head of Calder's Biscuits, the largest and most successful business in town, Calder is mourned with a massive public funeral led by his grieving widow, Penelope (Caroline Goodall), his brother, Julian (Adrian Lukis) and his son, Harry (Jonathan Barnwell). His genius chef, Armand (Sanjeev Bhaskar), and head baker, Clara Trout (Joanna Scanlan), do their best to keep the business running as normal.

Of course, since this is Midsomer County, this outpouring of grief and show of support are a facade behind which seethe layers of greed, jealousy and grudges dating back years. Perhaps the most straightforward people in town are the Bradley brothers, Atticus and Ernest (Richard Cordery and Nicholas Jones), two impoverished antique dealers who are mostly interested in persuading Penelope Calder to let them sell off some of her husband's belongings. Then again, Ernest seems to have acquired something mysterious that he's hiding from his brother.

Because of the Danish connection, Barnaby and Nelson must work closely with two female detectives from the Copenhagen police force, whose partnership has familiar echoes of the pair from the U.K. The senior officer, VPK Birgitte Poulsen (Ann Eleonora Jørgensen), is tough, bossy and doesn't impress easily, although Barnaby's analytical skills eventually win her over. KA Anna Degn (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen), the junior member of the team, smiles easily, jokes readily and obviously enjoys the unsettling effect her good looks have on Nelson, when the four cops join forces in Denmark.

The Killings of Copenhagen is very much concerned with parents and children, and especially with big decisions that parents make for their children when they are very young; so it is fitting that the episode occurs during the last week of Sarah Barnaby's pregnancy, with DCI Barnaby anxiously checking his phone for text alerts. He's terrified that he'll be out of the country when the big event occurs, but he makes it back to England in time. Unfortunately he has to choose between catching a killer and getting to the hospital to see the new arrival into this world, but, being Barnaby, he manages to do both.

Midsomer Murders, Set 25 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All five episodes in Set 25 of Midsomer Murders were shot by cinematographer James Moss, a series veteran, and all of them feature the same superb clarity, detail, depth of field and color that has been typical of the series on Blu-ray and has only improved since Acorn Media switched to BD-50s with Set 23. There is really nothing to add to my video review of Set 24, except to encourage Acorn to continue treating Midsomer Murders in this fashion. As new cast member Gwilym Lee stresses in his interview, the series shows the English countryside to its best advantage (the way everyone wants to see it, as Lee says), and the location photography deserves the best possible Blu-ray treatment. Acorn Media is doing it right. (For those interested in numbers, the average bitrate of these digitally shot episodes is around 26 Mbps per episode, which is excellent.)

Midsomer Murders, Set 25 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Provided in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0, the stereo sound design for Midsomer Murders continues to be basic and functional, with emphasis on dialogue and sparing use of music. The Flying Club provides several unusual opportunities for interesting sound effects, with planes zooming to left and right, and the sound designers must have enjoyed the chance to try something different. They made good use of the opportunity. The Blu-ray's track conveys the dialogue clearly, and the show's producers seem to have abandoned their experiments with Jim Parker's signature theme, now heard in its original theremin version, which remains as spooky as ever.

Midsomer Murders, Set 25 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Photo Gallery (disc 1) (1080p; various; 2:03): Behind the scenes of The Christmas Haunting and Let Us Prey.



• Photo Gallery (disc 2) (1080p; various; 1:03): Behind the scenes of The Flying Club and Wild Harvest.



• Gwilym Lee Interview (disc 3) (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 9:07): Lee describes the casting process for DS Nelson and his concept of the character, which he says the show's producers left him free to develop.



• Behind the Scenes (disc 3) (720p; 1.78:1; 23:06): The first topic is the replacement of Jason Hughes as Barnaby's sidekick, with comments from Dudgeon (interviewed on the set of The Christmas Haunting), Lee and director Alex Pillai. Then select guest cast members discuss The Christmas Haunting, The Flying Club and The Killings of Copenhagen.



• Celebrating 100 Episodes (disc 3) (720p; 1.78:1; 17:08): Director Alex Pillai discusses the development and production of The Killings of Copenhagen.



• Photo Gallery (disc 3) (1080p; various; 2:03): On location in Denmark and at a party celebrating 100 episodes.



• Trailers: At startup, disc 1 plays trailers for Acorn Media (a new, updated version), Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery and Republic of Doyle, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Midsomer Murders, Set 25 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

After 100 episodes, is there still more mileage in Midsomer Murders? Fans of the original Caroline Graham novels would probably say no, but the current cast has an interesting chemistry, and the addition of DS Charlie Nelson has given John Barnaby a push in a new direction. No longer the outsider who just arrived, he's now the old hand of the group, the closest thing on the team to a native of the region. And it will be interesting to see how he copes with fatherhood, just as his predecessor, Tom Barnaby, did before him. The five episodes of Set 25 are intricately plotted, beautifully shot and highly recommended.